


Special Occasion

by lamardeuse



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-07
Updated: 2011-03-07
Packaged: 2017-10-16 04:19:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamardeuse/pseuds/lamardeuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur realises timing isn't everything. A coda to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/71404">What Child Is This</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special Occasion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hermette, who wanted a story where David took his first steps.

  
Arthur wiped his sweaty palms off on his trousers under the table for approximately the dozenth time that evening and tried to pretend that he wasn't utterly terrified.

The box – or perhaps he should call it _the_ box – was sitting in his bedside drawer, where it had been waiting for nearly two months. Arthur had been planning to give it to Merlin on Christmas Eve, which was an anniversary of sorts, but then David had fallen ill with a fever and they'd spent the holiday with a sick infant and no sleep whatsoever, and by the time he was on the mend the opportunity had passed. Then there'd been New Year's Eve, but Merlin had got rather drunk on champagne and Arthur hadn't wanted to risk his saying yes whilst under the influence, then changing his mind when the hangover set in.

And now it was Valentine's Day – the most ridiculous time of the year, with vomit-inducing cheap tat and pink hearts and false sentiment for sale in card shop windows – and yet Arthur was determined that when they got home tonight, he would finally get off his arse and propose to Merlin before David was old enough to get married himself. Until then, he was sitting at a table with Merlin, Gwen, Lance, Leon and Morgana, feeling ridiculously pathetic and nervous and out of sorts. He knew he was acting like a complete wet blanket, and he knew Merlin knew it, too, and fuck, Lancelot was getting down on one knee, and perhaps Arthur could stab himself with a fork now.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Gwen hissed, gaze darting about the restaurant. No one was paying any attention, or if they were, you would never be able to tell; it was that kind of restaurant.

“Oh, come on, you've seen enough films to know what he's doing,” Morgana said, and Gwen glared at her before returning her attention to Lance.

“It's not as though this is a surprise,” Lance said quietly, taking Gwen's hand as he took a small box out of his jacket pocket. “You've known my feelings about you from the day we met.”

“I'm surprised you took this long, actually,” Morgana said, which earned her a frantic wave of the hand from Gwen.

Still gazing up at Gwen, Lance extracted the ring from the box and held it up. “Gwen Smith, will you do me the honour of making me the happiest man who ever lived?”

“Yes, love,” Gwen said, caressing Lance's face with her free hand, “yes, I will.”

As Lance rose to kiss Gwen, and the cheering and congratulations started, Arthur thought, _my timing is absolute shit._

   
   
   
   
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

   
   
   
   
 

  
Of course, the evening was made even more perfect when they returned home to find David up and tossing a giant wobbler. Merlin took him from a grateful Gaius and walked across the landing with him towards their bedroom. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness,” Merlin said, bouncing a fussing David against his hip, “What's the matter, little man?”

“Want biccie!” David exclaimed, clinging to Merlin's neck as Arthur removed his jacket and dropped it on the back of a chair, weary beyond belief.

“Well, that would be a lovely idea if it weren't after midnight, my lad. How about some nice warm milk instead?”

“BICCIEEEEEEE!!!”

Merlin flinched, and Arthur couldn't blame him; David's screech had been launched three inches from his left ear. “Nope, that's not the right answer, but thank you for playing,” Merlin said, and promptly marched right back out the door of their room with him. Arthur could hear David screaming all the way down the hall, and now and then Merlin's soft, calm tones.

David was still screaming when Merlin came back, by which point Arthur was already into his pyjamas, teeth brushed and face scrubbed. “He'll scream all night,” he muttered. “Why don't we just –”

“Give him what he wants?” Merlin smiled. “You're such a softie. It's a good thing I've actually read a book on parenting, or he'd be headed straight for a career in crime.”

“I hardly think that one biscuit –”

“We've been over this, Arthur. One biscuit turns into a biscuit every night, and then we're no longer in charge; he is.” Fingers undoing his own shirt buttons, he added, “It's not a stage that's going to last forever, you know. He's only hit the terrible twos a little early.”

“Oh, Christ,” Arthur murmured, “I won't survive a year of this.”

“I don't think it'll be that long,” Merlin said. “Anyway, cheer up. I think part of that is frustration that he's not walking yet.”

“You think he's really frustrated about not walking?” Arthur asked, frowning.

Merlin stripped off his shirt and leaned in to give Arthur a kiss on the cheek. “I wasn't talking about David,” he said, as he headed off to the loo.

“Merlin,” Arthur began, and Merlin stopped and turned back, his smile unbearably fond.

“Yes?”

Arthur took a deep breath, and thought about the box in the drawer. He could walk over to it and pick it up right now, and get down on one knee in the middle of the bedroom like an idiot, and Merlin would probably laugh in his face because David was still letting out periodic affronted screeches at regular intervals and there was absolutely no romance left, Lancelot had bloody nicked it all, and he was tired and his feet hurt and Merlin would clearly be mad as a hatter to want to spend the rest of his life with him because he was the most hopelessly unromantic person on the planet.

“Nothing,” Arthur said softly, shaking his head. “You're right.”

Merlin studied him for a long moment, then smiled again and turned away. David screeched one last time, then lay blissfully silent, and Arthur took two staggering steps toward the bed and collapsed face-down onto the mattress.

   
   
   
   
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

   
   
   
   
 

  
After Lance's proposal, Arthur had an unparalleled opportunity to observe Merlin's attitude toward marriage. Truth be told, part of his worry had always been that Merlin had never seemed particularly interested in the institution – or institutions of any sort, for that matter – and so Arthur hadn't been sure if Merlin would reject his proposal on the grounds that it was an outmoded bourgeois tradition. Merlin's mother had never married, and in the fourteen months they'd been together, Merlin himself had never expressed any desire to formalise their relationship. On the other hand, Merlin understood full well the importance of ritual, and there was no doubt he loved Arthur. Furthermore, Arthur now had the evidence that Merlin was extremely pleased for his friends, and was already looking forward to serving as Gwen's Man of Honour.

Nevertheless, there was still the niggling doubt at the back of Arthur's mind, and that was why he felt he had to set the stage, make the whole idea of marriage so attractive that Merlin could only say yes. He spent hours in his office scribbling plans and binning paper after paper filled with the most hackneyed, idiotic ideas – or at least they'd start off as brilliant and magically turn hackneyed and idiotic after about five minutes – and resisting the urge to tear out his hair. The next thing he knew it was the end of February and he still hadn't proposed, and he was once more starting to lose what little confidence he'd gained after Valentine's Day.

March came in like a lion, with a freak ice storm that quickly threatened to turn the streets of London to skating rinks. With Uther away in Vienna on business, he closed the shop early and sent everyone home before the situation could turn completely treacherous, then made his own way home. He skidded the car to a stop after narrowly missing driving it into one of the marble urns at the foot of the front steps, and made his way into the house, cursing softly under his breath.

Merlin was there to greet him, a squealing David in his arms. “I'm so glad you decided to close the shop,” he said, his kiss warm on Arthur's cold lips, “it looks horrid out there.”

“That's because it is,” Arthur said, taking David from Merlin automatically and greeting him with a kiss as well. “Days like this make me wish I could work from home, too.”

“Yes, well,” Merlin said, pursing his lips, “I didn't get one bit of work done today, thanks to a certain young man.”

“Is that so?” Arthur said. He shot a glance at David, who promptly buried his face in Arthur's shoulder.

“No less than five time-outs,” Merlin said, nodding.

“That's a new record.”

“Yes, quite an achievement,” Merlin said brightly. “Unfortunately, the deadline for that latest project is tomorrow, and I was counting on finding some time today to finish it.”

Arthur winced in sympathy. While his job did afford him the freedom to set his own schedule to some extent, Merlin had worked hard over the last year to build up a reputation as a freelance editor, and a missed deadline would be a setback.

“Look, why don't I stay home tomorrow?” Arthur blurted. “Give you a chance to get caught up?”

Merlin's eyes brightened at that. “Really? But don't you have meetings?”

Arthur thought about it briefly as he stroked David's hair. “Nothing I couldn't participate in via conference call.”

Merlin chuckled. “If you think you're going to manage a phone call of more than three minutes when he's in this state, you're off your chump.”

“Then I'll postpone them,” Arthur insisted. “You're much more important than a couple of meetings.”

Merlin blinked at him for a moment, then took a step forward and kissed him on the mouth. “I don't actually need a reminder of why I love you, but that's very nice all the same,” he murmured when he pulled back. “Thank you; that would be a huge help.”

“Well,” Arthur said, “it's the least I can do.” He could feel himself blushing a little, and it was a mystery to him that Merlin was still able to cause that reaction in him after over a year.

Merlin lifted his chin. “You're doing much better than I am – look at that.”

Arthur followed Merlin's instructions, and saw that David was conked out on his shoulder. Looking up again into Merlin's smiling, relieved face, he felt as though he'd hung the moon.

Tomorrow might not be so bad after all.

   
   
   
   
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

   
   
   
   
 

  
“David,” Arthur said, trying for firm but loving, the way the parenting books he'd read had taught him to sound, “I told you, not before bedtime.”

“WANT!” David screamed, for approximately the fifty-seventh time in the last ten minutes, nearly loud enough to rattle the windows. Arthur resisted wincing, but it was a close thing.

“That's not going to fly, m'dear,” Arthur said. He attempted to pick David up off the floor, but David wriggled out of his grasp with the talent of an eel and began crawling across the carpet at top speed. Despite the fact that his eardrums were still ringing, Arthur had to bite his tongue to keep from smiling; the little bugger was determined, at least. At times like this, it was hard to believe he wasn't actually Uther Pendragon's biological grandson; God knew they both had strikingly similar lung capacity.

Just for the hell of it, Arthur let him go, figuring he'd tire himself out if he kept motoring on to his destination, the kitchen cupboard where the chocolate was kept. How he'd determined this was somewhat of a mystery, but Merlin was sure David had a photographic memory and was now aware of the locations of all the yummiest things in the kitchen. If he was in someone's arms, he'd try to reach toward the stashes of goodies as though he could fly to them.

But Arthur had heeded Merlin's criticism that Arthur was too permissive, and was determined that he would tough out the day while being impervious to David's tantrums. He'd actually managed fairly well: they were an hour to David's bedtime and Arthur hadn't given in once. At this point, though, it was an even chance he'd survive the final hour.

David made it all the way to the kitchen, passing a bemused Gaius en route. The old man raised an eyebrow at Arthur, who smiled and tried to look like he knew what the bloody hell he was doing.

“Your father and I used to try to let you run down, too,” Gaius said.

“Did it work?” Arthur asked, hopeful.

Gaius's mouth twitched, and Arthur's heart sank. “You were a spectacularly energetic child.” He nodded at David, who had now reached the sink and was using the cabinets as leverage to help him up. “Like father, like son, apparently.”

“Oh, God,” Arthur sighed, hanging his head.

“There, there,” Gaius said, patting his shoulder, “this too shall pass.”

“When?”

Gaius appeared to consider it. “You were much better after your eighteenth birthday.”

“Thanks so much,” Arthur said, face twisting as Gaius started to laugh.

“Arthur,” Gaius said, sobering as he took Arthur's shoulders between his hands, “you're doing fine. In fact, you're doing far better than fine. You know that, don't you?”

Arthur swallowed at the earnest look on the old man's face – this man who had helped to raise him, and who was as dear to him as his own father. “Most days I do,” he answered, surprised as he said it to realise it was the truth. He'd come a long way over the last year to believing he could be a good parent, but it could still take very little to bring back the old doubts.

“Well, take it from me, my lad,” Gaius said quietly, “you're a wonderful father, and I couldn't be more proud of you.”

David chose that moment to release a truly terrifying screech of frustration as his plan to climb up the cabinets was thwarted by a cruel combination of gravity and his less than impressive stature. Arthur did wince at that, and Gaius chuckled and squeezed his shoulders before releasing him.

“Well? Has he launched his plan for world domination?”

Arthur turned at the sound of Merlin's voice, and found him standing in the doorway, a fond look on his face. Feeling his cheeks heating a little, Arthur cleared his throat and said, “Not yet, but it's coming. I think he'll begin work on the robot army before bedtime.”

“It's important to start somewhere,” Merlin said, leaning in to give Arthur a brief kiss.

“Did you get everything done?” Arthur asked.

“Yes, thanks so much,” Merlin said, relief clear in his tone. “Got in just under the wire.”

“Well, I'm off,” Gaius said, pausing to lean down and ruffle David's hair. “Good night, boys. And good luck.”

“Good night,” Merlin and Arthur echoed. David looked up to watch Gaius go, and then seemed to take note of Merlin for the first time. He let out a much more pleased-sounding squeal and waved the arm that wasn't clutching the cabinet at him.

“Does he try to climb the furniture a lot?” Arthur asked.

“Only four or five times in the run of a day,” Merlin answered cheerfully. “I actually do think I'll leave him alone for a moment one day and when I come back he'll have fashioned a rope ladder.” He plunked down on the floor where he stood and rested his elbows on his knees, watching David. “I missed him.”

“You missed him. You just characterised him as the evil mastermind bent on taking over the planet Earth.”

“I'm partial to megalomaniacs,” Merlin said, waggling his eyebrows at Arthur.

“Oh, for – I'm nothing of the kind!” Arthur spluttered, and Merlin laughed. David squealed and laughed along with him and bobbed up and down in excitement.

“There he is!” Merlin said, pointing and grinning. “Every so often you get a glimpse of him.”

“You make it sound as though he's been possessed by a pixie or something.”

Merlin chuckled. “It would explain a lot, but I think of it more as his working through things in his own head. Ultimately, it's good for him to go through this stage – as painful as it is for everyone else – and the screeching will subside eventually.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” Arthur muttered.

Merlin glanced up at him, smiled. “I wish you did, too, love,” he said quietly, and Arthur's heart lurched.

“I do – I mean –” Arthur fumbled for the words. “I don't care if he walks, you know. I mean, obviously he's going to walk eventually. I don't have a schedule in my head.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow at him, and Arthur sighed and sat down beside him. “All right, I suppose I did, but I don't any longer. Things will happen when they happen, and it's fine.”

“Hallelujah,” Merlin crowed, leaning over to give Arthur a smacking kiss on the lips. “What brought this on, may I ask?”

“You mean admitting that some things are beyond my control, that I'm prostrate before the gods of destiny?” Arthur drawled.

“And I thought Morgana was dramatic,” Merlin huffed.

Arthur drew himself up. “I thought you'd be pleased that I'd realised I couldn't manage my way out of absolutely everything. I'm growing as a person.”

“Oh, you're definitely growing. You're also avoiding the question.”

Arthur turned to look at David, who was watching them both intently, a small frown on his face. “I – erm,” he said, “I suppose I've decided I have a fairly good thing right now, with you and David.”

“You think so, hm?” Merlin murmured. Arthur turned back to him and was brought up short by the look on his face, the one that seemed to promise everything Arthur had never dared to want until Merlin had come crashing into his life.

“Merlin –” Arthur began, but at that moment David let out a happy shriek and Merlin's head turned towards their son.

“Oh my god,” Merlin breathed. “Arthur, look.”

Arthur turned to see David standing on his plump little legs as he had been before, only he was no longer holding on to the cabinet to keep himself upright. As they watched, he took one halting step towards them, then another.

“That's it, sweetheart!” Merlin exclaimed, holding out his arms. “You can do it!” David took another step, then another, seeming to gain confidence every time a new success brought him closer to his goal.

“DAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” David screeched, wobbling a little. Arthur's heart lurched along with him, recovering when David regained his equilibrium. He bit his tongue to keep from expressing his worry, knowing that even if David fell, it would be better than overprotecting him. The missteps were a part of life as much as the confident strides, and it was important not to make David so afraid to fall that he never tried anything new –

Arthur sighed inwardly as the realisation struck him. Well, yes, it was entirely possible that he was projecting just a bit.

David staggered the last few steps, his momentum a little beyond the grasp of his coordination, and he careened right into Arthur's arms, giggling with giddy joy as Arthur wrapped him up in a hug.

“You're officially ready to take over the world, my darling,” Merlin said, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of David's head.

“I don’t suppose,” Arthur rasped, clearing his throat before continuing, “I don’t suppose that you’d like to marry me?”

Merlin raised his head and looked at Arthur, his expression unreadable. “Do you have a ring, then?”

Arthur could practically feel the blood draining from his face. “No, I – I mean, I –”

“Perhaps you could use the one in your bedside drawer?” Merlin asked sweetly, cocking his head. “The one that’s been there for at least two months?”

“Closer to three, actually,” Arthur blurted, then narrowed his eyes. “Wait, you know?”

“I went looking in there one day for lube,” Merlin said, shrugging, “and I noticed it.”

“And you didn’t tell me you’d seen it?” Arthur demanded, settling a now-wriggling David more securely on his lap.

“Nope. Reckoned you’d say something when you were ready. Or you might have been getting set to propose to some other bloke, in which case it would have been a pretty embarrassing conversation.”

“There is no other bloke,” Arthur said gruffly. “There never will be another bloke. Merlin, will you?”

Merlin searched his face. “This is important to you, isn’t it?”

Arthur barked a nervous laugh. “Yeah, I suppose it is. Too old-fashioned?”

“A little,” Merlin said, smiling gently, “but I like you that way.” He reached up and stroked Arthur’s cheek. “Yes.”

Arthur blinked. “Yes? You mean – yes?”

Merlin kissed him softly. “Yes. I mean yes. I have had two months to think about my answer, you know – I’m fairly sure.”

Arthur lifted David up over his head. “Did you hear that, O Master of the Universe? He said yes!”

As David’s delighted squeal made them both laugh, Arthur realised that perhaps his timing wasn’t so terrible after all.


End file.
